Six, that’s right, count ’em, six onsen yesterday, beginning at about 5:30 A.M. and ending just past 11 at night.  My skin is as soft as a baby’s.  Between the baths, interviews with an egg producer who owns a precise replica of an Irish tea room deep in the countryside, and long talks about health and what-we-eat with colleagues and friends.

To say little of the killer Irish club sandwich and a dinner of delicious stewed beef and vegetables.

Today, in the downpour, which is magnificent, numerous interviews await with Slow Food type artisans.  Though with the monsoon-like weather it would also be nice to return to tatami and read Oe between naps and onsen.